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A new league table of the most expensive capital cities in Europe for student accommodation saw Paris finish on the podium, just behind London but well ahead of Berlin. The results may make future gap year students think again.

Students who have ever studied in Paris will testify that the French capital is not the cheapest when it comes to the cost of living and in particular accommodation.

One of the reasons why flat hunting can quickly become a nightmare for students in Paris can be partly explained simply by the exorbitant cost of lodgings.

A new set of rankings published this week that listed the most expensive capital cities in Europe for student accommodation, confirmed that Paris is one of the dearest.

The French capital came in third place, with an average a 20 metre square studio flat setting a student back €740 a month.

That put Paris just behind Moscow, where a studio costs €756 a month and table topping London where the equivalent accommodation costs €782 per month.

The order of the top three may be no surprise to most, but what may raise a few eyebrows of people mulling a possible year-out at a university in Europe is how much more expensive Paris is compared to other major cities – most notably Berlin.

Rents in the French capital for a studio are 42 percent above the European average. In the recent rankings of the best towns and cities in France to become a student, Paris did not even make the top ten, due in the main to the steep cost of accommodation.

In the German capital - where the average cost of a small flat is €376 a student could afford to rent out two studios for the price of one in Paris. The same can be said for Vienna (€369) Madrid (€308) and Lisbon (€305) (see full table below).

However it is worth noting that some parts of Paris area clearly more expensive than others, which helps to skew the figures somewhat.

The 5th, 6th and 16th arrrondissements, which have the highest student populations because of their proximity to universities, are home to the most expensive studios.

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